Audiobooks are especially interesting to review because the author’s words are only part of the picture. While Toibin did an amazing job of writing this novella, almost equal credit should go to Meryl Streep for her awesome narration. The story is told in the first person voice of Mary, mother of Jesus. It’s a fresh point-of-view on a story we think we know so well, but we’ve hardly ever heard it told this way. Mary gives her account of witnessing the end of her son’s life and not bearing to be there at the moment of his death. Toibin recounts her amazement at watching her son grow into this figure, but then lets us be a part of her suffering, her anger, her fear — all communicated so beautifully by Meryl Streep, of course. Incredibly powerful work made all the more intense by perfect audio.